


The Cat's Meow

by Rosedrop



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, but thankfully ones that can be fixed with lots of purring, he's actually pretty cool with it, reno's the one having issues, this is literally just me turning rude into a cat for a bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29708544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosedrop/pseuds/Rosedrop
Summary: As is Rude's luck in a lot of situations, in the midst of a chase through the sewers of Sector 6 he has the unfortunate pleasure of finding himself turned into a cat. A very large, very fluffy cat. All that's left for him and Reno to do is to try and wait the magic out, however long that may take, so of course shenanigans ensue in the meantime.
Relationships: Reno/Rude (Compilation of FFVII)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	1. A Stinky Situation

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this lovely art of Kitty!Rude by @AmebThings over here on Twitter https://twitter.com/AmebThings/status/1363957572814983172?s=20, this is basically just an excuse for me to write about these two having cat-based shenanigans together for a bit. So it's totally okay that I just ran wild with the magic system for this one lol, it's all about the journey folks not where we started from haha. Hope you guys enjoy!

It’s not every day you see your partner go up in smoke. Literally.

The whole thing had honestly been a crapshoot right from the start, as Tseng had gotten word that morning on the Turk’s Target-of-the-Week hiding out in the expansive sewer system running beneath Sector 6. Tseng, of course, had promptly sent out Reno and Rude to investigate the sighting and either extract or eliminate the faulty Materia dealer they were after, and within seconds of the two climbing down a grate and into the slimy, smelly system of tunnels they spotted the man camping out with boxes of product on one of the few dry patches in the whole place.

And the perp, who got the shit startled out of him when the two Turks practically fell right on top of his illegal operation, booked it.

Reno spied the man first and didn’t even bother with the last rungs on the ladder, jumping the rest of the way down and shooting right after him, knowing time was of the essence least they would have to start back from scratch if the man managed to get escape and square himself away in some hidden corner of the underground labyrinth.

He barely caught the sound of Rude jumping down after him, hot on Reno’s trail if the pounding of heavier, far more controlled footsteps coming from behind were anything to go by, and it quickly became clear that for as long as this guy’s probably been hunkered down here with all his shit, his eradicate movements and panicked missteps show that he’s just as blind down here as his pursuers are. 

The man was able to stay a couple of feet ahead of Reno for a solid few minutes, before eventually encountering a branching tunnel to the right that he turned sharply into, and not two seconds later the sound of something striking metal hard rang sharply in the air. Reno cursed, thinking the guy had either run himself into a dead end or found an actual escape route out of this damn place. He prepared himself for either, yanking out his mag rod so that as he rounded the corner-

BAM! It’s was like running into a pile of slimy, fishy-smelling bricks that Reno was physically no match for, propelling him straight back onto the path he just veered off of. His back slammed against the metal fencing, keeping him from falling down in to the murky waters surrounding the path they’ve been running down, but he internally cringed at the feeling of something wet and sticky soaking through his jacket.

Between the strong smell and wind getting knocked right of his lungs, he’s very grateful when Rude’s strong hands are suddenly on his shoulders and yanking him out of the way of a trident aimed right for his face, momentarily pulling Reno into his chest to escape any more of the deadly projectiles, “Thanks partner, think I’m gonna owe you the next round for that one.”

“In that case we’re gonna have to come up with a new payment soon,” Rude said as he pivoted them both around to use the tunnel wall as cover, a pinnacle of calm collectedness as he released Reno and checked the Fire Materia in one bangle and popped an Auto-Cure into the empty slot on his other wrist, “Because at this point if I start cashing in all your I.O.U’s we’re both just gonna end up with alcohol poisoning.” 

“Hey man, you sure as shit weren’t complaining last time, Hell I even scored us a private room, on the house!” Okay maybe that wasn’t entirely accurate, the proprietor of The Green Gown had simply decided to value both Shinra’s cold hard Gil and as something like public decency, ushering the two Turks into one of the Pub’s private suites when they started getting a little too handsy for the sake of other patrons.

But at least the couch had been pretty comfy. And the pool table. And the regular table. And maybe even the floor, there’s some moments from the night that were still a little spotty in of their collective memory, though the aches and pains in both of their backs and hips the next morning were pretty unforgettable. 

“Can’t argue with that,” Rude shrugged, ducking down to get a look at what they’re dealing with, “Hmm, Sahagin. Pretty nasty looking, but for now it seems preoccupied with our target.”

“In a ‘still able to extract him outta here’ way, or a ‘time call in the clean-up crew’ way?”

“Definitely clean-up crew.”

Yuck, Reno almost felt sorry for the poor bastard, there’s not a whole lotta ways he wants to go out but death by smelly sewer turtle had to be near the bottom, he’d much rather have Tseng scold him to death or be Darkstar’s chew toy if he had a choice in it.

There’s a weird water-logged gurgle that comes from the space, followed up by what sounds suspiciously like flesh and bone being torn apart, and Reno knows this’ll probably be their best chance at taking the creature by surprise. There’s no telling what information their dealer still had hidden away on his body, and if they couldn’t get him out alive then at least they could strip away any lingering secrets away before they found themselves being flushed away into oblivion along with the rest of the sewer waste.

He gives Rude the signal, a quick nod and bump on the shoulder, and Rude gives one back before running out of there cover and blasting the area with a fireball. There’s a horrible wail of pain and anger and Reno makes sure he's right behind his partner, providing support while Rude hammers into the Sahagin like he's going for the win.

At one point it seems like victory is imminent, with the creature sprawled out on the ground and Rude standing over it, fist raised and fire ablazin', and Reno takes the chance to dart around the two and go for the mangled corpse of their target, now a bit crispy as well thanks to excess heat of Rude’s flaming magic.

But just as he reaches his target he suddenly finds himself being slammed down into the ground, the weight of whatever it is that’s affecting him like being dragged down and crushed beneath the immense pressure of a body of water. He hears Rude call out a desperate “Reno!” somewhere in the distance, but he’s distracted by trying to escape the awful feeling of his lungs filling with some thick, heavy liquid as his vision starts to go black…

When Reno comes to he’s still down on the ground, but now that horrible feeling of being weighted down is gone and he’s able to draw a harsh breath into his screaming lungs. Despite the blurred lines of his surroundings he scrambles to try and right himself while also willing the world to stop spinning so much, his vision going in and out at random. He hears a grunt of pain that he knows belongs to Rude, and his sight clears just in time to see his partner grappling with the Sahagin one moment, trying to wrench the trident out of its grasp that was likely meant to be sticking out of Reno’s chest right now and in the blink of an eye the two are blanketed in grey cloud that’s impossible to see through. In the time it takes for Reno to blink and grapple around for wherever his e-mag landed the cloud dissipates, and all that’s left is the Sahagin standing victoriously on one side, and a pile of Rude’s clothes lying abandoned on the other.

Reno’s heart is sinking, and his body feels far colder then when it felt like he was drowning. 

He’s seen Toad used on others before, Hell he's even had to deal with it himself a handful of times, but Toad isn’t supposed to make all your damn clothes fall off. Or show no signs of life at all.

In that moment something snapped in Reno’s brain, as if someone had gone up with bolt cutters and clipped away all the chains keeping the beast restrained, because in like the flash of his lightning magic he’s up and moving like a wild cat, throwing himself forward and going straight for the creature’s knees with a harsh slam of metal and rubber against scaly flesh. Usually a combo of lightning and melee would do fuck all against a Sahagin, but Rude must’ve managed to weaken it enough with his fire to where it crumbles only after a few strokes of Reno’s fury. There’s a satisfying crack of the shell splintering against the concrete, and finally the ugly bastard goes still, one last hiss of air escaping its mouth as dark green blood pools all around it.

But Reno doesn’t pay the still-warm corpse any attention, nor does he bother with the body that led them into this stinkin’ shithole in the first place. He turned and felt his own knees crack painfully with how hard he landed on the concrete, digging into the pile of clothes before him for any sign of whatever the fuck happened to his partner.

His whole body still felt like it’s been coated in a thick layer of Shiva’s ice, especially his heart, and there’s a pit in his stomach that’s slowly being filled by something he hadn’t let himself feel when out on a mission in a long time “No no no, man c’mon Rude, you better be hiding out underneath all this shit, where the Hell are you?” 

Reno grabs for Rude’s suit jacket to give it a good shake for any sign of a slippery toad stuck inside, and his hand brushes against something warm and, hold on, furry?

Wait what?

He rips a few buttons off in his haste but there, laying peacefully amidst the deep purple fabric of Rude’s button-up is a massive black cat, who looks to be at least two feet long with a tail about half that length, swishing about now that it’s free of its purple prison. Whether it’s all the movement or something else it wakes up as well, the one eye visible to Reno cracking open to reveal pupils the same enchanting shade of dark brown that Reno’s woken up to almost every morning for the past three years, that at first squint up at the other man in sleepy annoyance, before widening in confusion. Rude(?) opens his mouth, probably o ask his partner what the hell happened, but all that comes out is a scratchy meow that startles them both and makes his whole body tense up.

Reno stares blankly at the creature before him as Rude, yeah it’s gotta be with those eyes, tries to stand up on four very wobbly legs instead of his usual two, and then Reno mind cracks once again and can’t help it, the absurdity of it all has him bursting out in obnoxious laughter that reverberates all throughout their concrete surroundings, seemingly startling Rude who about falls over onto his face. He picks his cat-ified partner back up and can’t help but to gather him up in his arms, cuddling him close to his chest and bringing him up to smoosh his face into soft, silky fur to try and muffle the giggles he can’t seem to stop from escaping his mouth. The icy feeling thankfully started melting away, but the ache in his heart seemed a little slower to dissipate. He let out a deep breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in either.

He and Rude have been through a lot of weird and crazy shit over the years, but this one might take the cake.

Rude to his credit is either too confused to fully understand what he’s doing or is adapting to this whole cat thing rather quickly, only focusing on his partner’s sudden and strange behavior because while he does let out a grumble at the sudden manhandling, he simply squirms around until he’s face-to-face with Reno and starts licking him on the cheek and nose with a his scratchy tongue to get his attention.

Reno laughs as he doesn’t put a lot of effort in escaping the ticklish sensation, “Alright, alright, I’m cool Rude I’m cool. Holy shit though, been a long time since you gave me that bad a fright, but what the heck even is this, ain’t you supposed to be some kinda frog instead?”

Reno’s not sure if cats can usually shrug, but Rude makes a good attempt at it, and the redhead sighs. Usually this type of thing amounts to one long waiting game, which he would much rather deal with back at their nice, dry office space instead of sitting down on the hard stone ground surrounding but Gaia-knows-what kinds of liquids dripping all around. He releases Rude from his arms, who’s able to stay up on all fours this time, and starts gathering up his partner’s scattered clothing. He may as well try to do something productive.

“Ya’know, this ain’t the kinda shit we’re supposed to be dealing with on a Friday night Rude, don’t you know this is the type of thing you have happen early in the week so we can at least get some time off?” He starts to fold the suit jacket up and wags a finger in his partner’s face, who responds with a ghost of a nip against the callused flesh and an exasperated meow, that sounds a lot less raspy this time, “I hear ya, I hear ya, guess we’ll just have to take this one step at a time, hopefully won’t be too long before your back to normal, bed’s gonna feel real cold tonight.” He laughs at his own attempt to lighten the situation, but Rude just continues nudging the rest of his uniform towards the pile they’ve started to form.

One by one Reno gets each garment folded relatively neatly, by his standards at least, and with one arm he’s able to keep the stack pretty well balanced while extending the other out as an invitation for his partner to jump back in, which Rude does with gusto, carefully balancing the two before suddenly remembering, “Ahh shit, probably should get a pic of that thing so Tseng can take a look, maybe he’ll know how long you’ll be stuck like this,” he goes to try and grab his phone, but the pile of fluff in his arm doesn’t make it easy, “Uhhh, little help partner?”

He unlocks the type grip of his arm just enough for Rude to jump onto his shoulder, wobbling a little precariously but eventually settling with his head shoved into the crook of Reno’s neck and the rest of his body draped like a massive furry scarf.

Reno wants nothing more than to take a pic of the frankly adorable sight, and he does, though when Rude notices the phone aimed his way he growls into his ear and gives it a good hard headbutt that just makes him look even cuter. To make up for it he does his best to rub his own cheek against his partner’s furrier one, and he’s rewarded with a deep purr that reverberates throughout his chest.

For a moment Reno forgets where they are, but snaps back when he hears what sounding more and more like rushing water, so he knows they’re getting close to over-staying they’re welcome down here. He kneels down next to the ugly bastard, and on closer inspection, the Sahagin doesn’t seems all that different from the one’s Reno’s had to face down in the past. The shell and scaly skin were still present, but patches of fur clung to said scales in a random assortments of shape and color, and what looked suspiciously like whiskers were clumped all around its mouth.

“Musta been some kinda hybrid, or maybe just got mutated even more by all the crap down here,” Reno muttered as he snapped a few quick pictures of the creature’s remains. He turned to do the same with all that was left of the Materia dealer, though with how shredded and blood-stoked his clothing now was it was unlikely any information that he might’ve had on him. A quick frisk of his pockets produced no phone, and with that Reno decided it was time to call it quits, and get them somewhere a lot drier and a lot better smelling, “Okay Rude, what do you we head out while we still got a set of opposable thumbs between us to fly back to base with, huh? Before anything else decides to rear it’s nasty head,” He get another lick, this time right on the lip and he has to spit off to the side to keep a rogue strand of cat hair out of his mouth, “Bleh, all right then, I'll get us out of here, just don't start licking anywhere weird, alright?”


	2. Slowly But Surely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well this got far, far more detailed then I ever thought it would be but hey, at least that's pretty much the rest of the set-up done with! And I even gave Reeve a little cameo!!
> 
> Sorry if there's anything real funky with the grammer in this one, didn't have as much time for editing but after reading through it abvout twenty times there's only so much you can do. Hope you guys enjoy!!

To say there was a slight commotion in the Turks conference room when they walked in was an under-statement. 

“You each get one guess,” Reno called out as his strutted inside, Rude still draped over his neck like a damn scarf after he’d jumped back up there once Reno had safely landed their chopper on the Shinra helipad. He seemed pretty happy with his current position, given the low purr that had been rumbling through his chest the whole walk down to the office, and Reno couldn’t help but wonder if his partner was even aware of what his new body was doing.

“Reno, what on _Earth_ did you do this time. And _how_?” Was Elena’s immediate response after her and Tseng spent a good long minute staring at the cat that had suddenly entered their lives. Reno had walked up to Tseng’s massive desk and Rude had immediately jumped down onto the shiny wooden surface, which Reno was a little grateful for since all that fur was really starting to get heavy, and more importantly really hot. Tseng remained silent.

“Why’s it gotta be my fault huh? I’m not the one with the tail walking around on all fours right now,” Reno bit back at the rookie.

“Well you’re the one who broke the wrong window and set off the alarm last time. And before that almost forced us to jump off a twelve-story building cause the balcony was too short. And-”

“Ya’know for someone who’s always tripping over air and dropping coffee cups, you sure as Hell talk a big game, shrimp.” Gaia, it was like a damn monkey’s paw, him wishing for the brat to grow a fucking backbone when she’d first started off at Shinra. And now he was paying for it royally in unbridled sass. He already got plenty of that when Rude was in the mood, thank you very much.

He was pretty proud whenever she directed that fury and sass onto other, though.

“That’s not even-!”

“Enough, both of you.” To an outsider Tseng would’ve seemed completely nonplussed by the situation, but there was no hiding the raised eyebrow and slight head tilt that the other Turks knew meant he was trying to process all of… whatever this was. Finally he sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose, eyes closing before he spoke “Reno, what happened. And please, for all our sakes, a hundred words or less.”

“Pfft. Fine. Found you dealer hunkered down in the sewers, went chasing after him, and the bastard managed to run into the ugliest Sahagin you’d ever seen in your life. Dead before we even rounded the corner, and when we tried fighting the thing off to get at the body, it used some kinda transformation magic while fighting Rude and now he’s, well, got a lot more hair on his head, and the rest of his body. There, seventy-five good enough?”

“Fortunately yes. And by ugly, I’m assuming this was no ordinary Sahagin the two of you encountered, then?"

“Hell no it wasn’t, even got a picture to prove it!” Reno said, yanking his phone out of pocket and flicking through till he found what he was looking for. He grabbed for the cord Tseng was holding out, plugging his phone into the other Turk’s computer to make things a bit easier, all of them leaning forward to have a look, though Rude had to duck under Reno’s arm to see for himself.

Reno hadn’t been lying, the mutated Sahagin looked bad enough in the low light of the sewers but now, blown and brightened up by the computer screen it was downright disgusting. It’s scaly skin was a shade of moldy green that looked severely dry, there were far too many shards of sharp teeth filling its mouth and jutting out at all angles surrounded by curly grey whiskers and, oddest of all, covering sections of its body and even poking out of parts of the shell were badly matted patches of fur, that on closer inspection looked to be very reminiscent of what Rude was currently covered with but the Sahagin’s fur was so stained it looked more like a mock-calico then Rude’s dark coat.

“How, how the heck is it even possible for something to look that bad, uggh!” Elena shuddered, “I swear I can smell all that gunk just by looking at it.”

“This is certainly… more graphic then I was anticipating, as far as the mutation is concerned, though it certainly seems that you didn’t do it any favors during your fight either,” Tseng said, clicking through a few files on the Shinra database before bringing on another image, this time of a much greener, far more normal-looking version of the creature, “Anatomically speaking, it’s undeniably still a Sahagin, and given Rude’s current form and all of the fur it seems a feline influence was introduced at some point, whether in the sewers or by our scientists here. As such, I suspect that means it’s magical capabilities would remain roughly the same, and this is most likely the result of an altered version of Toad.”

“But if that’s the case then, Rude should’ve been back to his old self long before we even left Sector 6, let alone the ride back here, it’s been at least an hour and a half?” Reno asked as he leaned harder against the desk, Tseng only offering a minute shrug as his way of admitting his own uncertainty, as he continued to scan the information in front of him, “The only information available on the public channels seems to be that of standard Sahagins, with no variants mentioned anywhere here. It’s seems we’ll need to access further via the Science Departments private records, or even Hojo’s personal accounts.”

Oh great, Reno thought sarcastically, that sounded _just_ peachy, and started tapping his fingers in annoyance. He’d done all he could to stay away from the Shinra scientist ever since he’d discovered some extra oomph had been added to his materia, courtesy of a collaboration between the man and Scarlet, and had sent Reno straight to the infirmary for a day and a half with how bad the shock had been to his system. And he still didn’t have an answer to his biggest question, just how long was his partner gonna be stuck like this? The rest of the day, a week, a fuckin’ _month_ , or maybe even-

Something warm was suddenly pressing down on said hand, and Reno looked down to see that Rude had turned towards him and placed one of his paws on the top of his hand to try and stop the other’s movement. Reno did stop, releasing the puff of air he hadn’t realized was stuck in his throat, and instead focused on scratching at Rude’s neck and throat, who immediately started pushing and rubbing against his fingers as well as purring up a storm. Gaia, the entire thing was so damn weird but, at least he still technically had his partner by his side, a much furrier and even quieter version of the man sure, but a pretty cute one as well. He supposed it could’ve been worse.

Much, much worse.

“Awww. I never thought I’d say this but, Rude actually makes for a really cute kitty,” Elena practically cooed, her attention drawn away from the computer Tseng was still working at as she reached over to gently pet against the ridge of Rude’s spine. Reno thought for sure that Rude would react poorly to the sudden touch, considering his partner’s usual reaction to such things, but as a cat it must’ve felt pretty good because not only did he not back or hiss, at the first stroke he immediately collapsed onto his stomach, back arching at the pleasant sensation. Reno huffed out a laugh while Elena outright giggled at the display.

“Yeah well, better enjoy now, I don’t think he’ll be too happy about you calling him ‘cute’ when he’s back to his old self.”

“If you three are finished,” Tseng chided, though with little heat, but it was still enough to turn all eyes back on the dark haired man, even Rude stood back up to give his full attention, “As I was saying the other information I’m finding on the public database is proving mostly useless, and as I have a board meeting scheduled to start in fifthteen minutes I must unfortunately cut our search off for the time being. Elena, you were also needing to prepare for your shooting demonstration in half an hour, yes?”

“Ahh, yes Tseng sir, I was just about to head over to the armory to finish prepping,” Elena responded, bowing respectfully and heading back to her own desk to start gathering her supplies. He nodded, then turned towards his remaining Turks.

“I will make sure to give the Vice President a brief rundown on what has transpired, for the sake of keeping things simple, but for now we will simply treat this as a rather sudden and nasty case of the flu, of which we are trying to keep from spreading throughout the rest of the office.” He unhooked Reno’s phone to hand it back, then picked up the briefcase leaning against the table, “Take the rest of today off, as well tomorrow as you two normally would, and then bearing any other conflicts arising we will reconvene on Monday and decide how to proceed from there, any questions?”

Reno looked at Rude, who shook his head, “Nope, sounds fine to us Chief.”

“Then I shall leave you all to it. Please message me immediately if any developments happen.” And with a quick bow from their boss, Tseng was out the door.

Reno let out a huge sigh as soon as the door was shut, yanking his desk chair over and collapsing in it with his eyes still trained on the images in front of him. Rude settled in as well, lying down again and shutting his eyes, though Reno doubted even in cat form he was trying to sleep right now, probably trying to process all that they had discussed and their lack of real answers.

“Auugghh, this whole thing freakin’ blows,” he growled, scratching at his scalp in annoyance. He could feel Elena shuffling around behind him, and heard her let out her own softer sigh.

“It could always be worse Reno, at least neither of you are strapped down to a hospital bed, like after that last time with the faulty bomb stash.”

“Least then we’d know what to expect, but I guess sulking ain’t gonna do any good,” Reno said and stretched out, feet going up on the desk and lazily turning his head to stare at the youngest Turk as she finished doubling checking her rifle bag, “What’s your take on all this then?”

Elena didn’t pause from her task, but seemed to concentrate even harder as she considered his question, “Well the way I see it, if the creature was still alive then yeah, you guys would have a much bigger problem, cause who knows how long it could manipulate the spell to last, probably until it came across some other prey to go after. But with you smashing the shit out of it then that’s gotta mean the magic doesn’t have its main source anymore, and will run out eventually right?” Elena said. It sounded like she was thinking out loud, as she was often want to do in the safety of their private corner of Shinra, but Reno had to admit that she did have a good point.

“I sure as fuck hope so, I don’t wanna even think about having to go through all the paperwork and shit involved with your spouse suddenly not being to write their own name. Or talk, for that matter.” Reno muttered, kicking his feet up onto the table and started tugging at the hoop in his left ear, a habit he’d picked up since the day Rude had placed it there, rubbing the dark purple stone set in the bottom portion. He looked at Rude, who was still just sitting there, eyes closed and tail swishing away, and he’s not sure why’s expecting to see the hoop’s sibling pierced through his ear, but can’t help the twinge of disappointment he feels when he doesn’t see that little splash of color from Rude’s bright blue stone. He can’t help but wonder what happened to it along with the rest of his partner’s piercings, they hadn’t been anywhere on the ground with the rest of his clothing. 

“Well you’ve got what, three whole months to get everything sorted? And you guys are still just planning to head south to del Sol?”

“Yep, gonna get everything signed and sealed, hop on a plane, and then it’s just two weeks’ worth of drinking and sunbathing,” Reno grinned, and Rude chirped in agreement, man he couldn’t wait for it to be just the two them at the vacation destination this time around, “And some other stuff, obviously, but-”

“Not stuff that I need to hear about, thank you very much,” Elena interrupted, and Reno laughed at the slight blush now dusting her cheeks and she finished zipping her bag up, “Just let me know when to send the card and bourbon over. Now I really, really have to go, see you later guys, hope things go smoothly.”

“See yah Laney,” Reno waved saluted as the other Turk waved, Rude saying goodbye with a loud meow that got one last smile and slight giggle out of the blonde, and then it was just the two of them left in the conference room.

Now out of the watchful eyes of their teammates, Rude decided it was the perfect time to jump into Reno’s lap, who barely kept the cat-turned-man from tumbling onto the floor when he landed awkwardly. With a oomph, Reno gathered him in his arms so he could settle on his chest while Reno rubbed at one of his ears. Rude started purring again, and shoved his face into reno’s neck.

“Guess this means we got that rest of the day, may as well use it to figure some of the nitty-gritty out. Damnit I don’t even know the first thing about dealing with a cat, but at least I don’t have to worry about you scratching the sofa up.” Reno said, stretching his legs out to help accommodate the mass of muscle and fur he was holding up, “…I won’t have to worry about that, right?”

He got four sets of claw pressing warningly into his chest at that one and laughed, smiling as he brushed his thumb against Rude’s cheek, “Sorry man, just making sure all our bases are covered.” He stooped, the hand resting against Rude’s back raising up to tangle and tug at his own hair as he thought aloud, “Now that I’m thinking ‘bout it, might actually know someone here who could help us out a bit, least on the material side of things. Whatta’ya say we go pay them a visit?” Reno smiled sharply, like he had just thought of a really funny joke, and while Rude was a bit skeptical it wasn’t like he had much of a choice. He nodded and jumped back on the desk so Reno could stand up, getting into position to jump onto the redhead’s shoulder like before when-

“Wait wait, I got better idea! Gimme a sec.” He paused, tilting his head, but lowered his bottom back down.

Reno walked back over to their desks, getting down on his knees and rummaging underneath while Rude could only look on confusion, trying to figure out what his partner had in mind. Eventually he came back up for air, brandishing Rude’s leather shoulder bag in one hand and his own black nylon backpack in the other. Resting them both on Rude’s desk he started taking out items from his backpack and transferring them into the other’s bag, Rude would’ve voiced (or yowled he supposed) his annoyance at Reno messing his stuff up if he wasn’t even more confused now at what his intentions were.

Soon Reno was left with an empty backpack and an overstuffed shoulder bag, and grabbed the backpack to where Rude was left standing, the main pocket left unzipped, and shoved it into his face, “Alright Rude, jump in.”

…

Rude took one look at the bag, looked up at Reno, looked back at the bag, and then finally stared long and hard at Reno, hackles raised, tail swishing harshly, and if looks could kill Reno would be lying on the floor.

“Okay I know what it looks like but, hear me out, if I gotta keep hauling your ass around everywhere then we need to make it little less obvious, and this’ll probably be more comfortable for both of us in the long run, less likely to accidentally drop yah,” Reno paused, thought for a moment, then shrugged, “Plus all that fur makes you really damn heavy partner.” He kept his eyes trained on Rude’s darkened browns, not wanting to give in, but apparently cat Rude was just as intimidating in stare-downs as regular Rude was.

For a moment everything was still, and Reno was started getting worried that maybe he’d pushed his luck too much and now Rude was just outright ignoring him, but thankfully before things got too uncomfortable Rude’s shoulders lowered a hair and his tail dropped back down. He still didn’t look too happy, and was growling under his breath, but he did give in and jump into the void of Reno’s backpack, turning around a few times before settling in and shooting Reno a look that said, “You owe me so much for this.”

“Don’t worry Rude, when this’s all over I’ll buy you a whole bottle of that cinnamon whiskey you like, all to yourself,” he ruffled the fur on top of his companions head and got a swipe in response, “Now let’s go make a shopping list.”

******

“Yo, Tuesti! If you’re in you better open up!” Reno with his usual amount of grace pounded on the director’s door, he was fairly certain he’d be skipping out on the meeting Tseng was stuck in since it was more about building bombers then building roads. It was silent for a moment, though he could practically taste the nervous tension he could feel building in front of him as very soft, very deliberate footsteps approached the door. Finally it cracked open enough for Reno to catch of a glimpse of nervous brown eyes starting back at him.”

“Ahh oh, Reno? Is there, can I help you with something?”

“You got yourself a couple’a furballs back home, right?” Reno questioned, flinging the door the rest of the way open and barging into Reeve’s office, sending the man scrambling out of the way. He gestured towards the frame propped up on his desk, having remembered seeing a photo of a calico and ginger cat resting against the desk lamp from some of his previous visits.

“Furballs what- oh, _oh_ , do you mean Bella and Gizmo? I, yes, I do, but why?”

“Cause I gotta little pet project I need your help on Chief.” He carefully pulled the back pack around to his chest and, giving it a pat, Rude’s head popped back out into the open, startling Reeve based on how wide his eyes got, and jumped the rest of the way out and onto Reeve’s desk. He was getting pretty damn good at it.

It was like a switch went off in Reeve’s head, one moment radiating so much nervous tension that Reno was shocked he hadn’t bolted out the room yet, but as soon as his brain realized what was standing on his desk he was like a whole different person, smiling and without a shred of fear anywhere. Holy shit, Reno thought, and I thought he got sappy talking about his bots.

All of Reeve’s attention was on Rude standing semi-proudly in all his kitty glory, though Reno could tell he was still a bit unsure about this whole thing. With the sunlight coming through the cracks in the blinds on Reeve’s window it was now much easier to see the smaller dark brown stripes streaking through the rest of his black fur.

Reeve reached over to pet him on the head, and at first Rude backed away entirely, flashing Reno an unsure look, and the redhead wanted to slap himself for being so stupid. They’d ‘talked’ a little on the way up to the Director’s office about Rude needing to try his best to act like a normal cat when in front of anyone other than the Turks, but being pet by others wasn’t something they’d remembered to cover. Reno frowned and shrugged (thankfully Reeve was completely distracted by now and hadn’t noticed Rude’s off behavior), mouthed “Sorry, please?” back at him, and with a sigh Rude pushed himself back towards Reeve and let the man have at it.

“Reno this is, quite frankly the largest cat I’ve ever seen in my life where, where on Earth did you get him come from?”

“Family friend had an emergency, needed us to keep an eye on him but left before I could get any of his stuff. Was hoping you had some ideas on what a guy like this would need for ‘bout a week.” He walked over to the two of them, placing his hand on Rude’s back in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, trailing his fingers through his fur.

“So what’s this guy’s name?”

“His name? It’s, uh-” Shit he hadn’t even thought about that, he couldn’t just go around calling this random cat the same name as his partner, and the only cat he ever knew was old One-Eye who lived behind the kitchen of the children’s home, but he obviously couldn’t use that, “…Fluffy.”

Now that got him a big old glare from Rude, and all he could offer was another shrug. If he didn’t end up on the sleeping on the couch after all was said and done, it would be a bonified miracle. Reeve thankfully didn’t seem to catch on to his hesitance, “Fluffy huh? Well it certainly fits him, I suppose. Really, they didn’t leave him with a bed or anything? Not even food? That’s odd.”

“Nope, so now we’re kinda on a time crunch here Tuesti, if you catch my drift.”

“Yes I suppose you would be, alright then,” Reeve grabbed for one of the many pieces of paper littering his desktop as well as a pen from jumbled mess of a cup sitting next his lamp, and started writing things down so quickly even Reno was impressed by his speed.

“You said a week so, the most obvious is definitely a litter box and plenty of litter,” Oh Gaia, Rude was gonna kill him in his sleep, “And unless you’re willing to give up to of your own bowls and water and food dish as well. If you have an extra pillow and blanket I would make up a bed in a calmer part of your house if he’s never been there before and oh! Enough toys so he doesn’t get bored and feel tempted to start scratching your furniture, and then-”

Shiva’s Tits that’s a lot, Reno thought as he continued watching Reeve scribble away at the paper, even Rude had his head tilted to the side to try to make heads or tails of all the info the raven haired man was spewing out. Was he like this during board meetings, or did talking about cats happen to be his true calling in life? 

“-you might also want to get him a collar, even a basic one with just your phone number on the tag in case something happens. I would hope his owners would have him chipped but, better to be safe than sorry. Ahhh, I apologize Reno, I suppose that was a lot to take in all at once,” he said slightly remorsefully as he handed over the thoroughly scribbled paper to the man, before his attention was once again taken up by Rude. This time he didn’t flinch away when Reeve ran his fingers through his fur, but he certainly didn’t look happy about it, “Do you have any questions, or anything you want clarified?”

Reno scanned the list in his hands brows furrowing more and more as he tried to digest all of it, “So uh, this part here, that just says cat food…” He looked at Rude who was staring Very intently at the list in his hand, eyes wide and nails digging into the wood of the desk. It seemed he was having similar concerns as well.

“Hmmm yes, unfortunately I’m guessing from what you said that his owners forgot to mention what type of food he’s partial to but, there are plenty of options out there that should be fine for a week, as long as-”

“Okay but uh, any way we could just skip that like, not have to deal with the canned stuff?” Reno quickly interrupted. The litter box would be bad enough but, he’d seen the kind of stuff that came out of those cans in commercials before and, beyond the utter indignity of it all, wasn’t too sure if Rude’s stomach would actually be able to handle that kind of stuff, even given his current form. He’d give whatever five star-level of cooking it would require to give it a crack if it meant not having to deal with the smell alone.

“Oh, well, I suppose if you’re willing to put all the work into something like that. I would highly recommend looking up a list of do’s and don’ts from a reputable source but on occasion I’ve done boiled chicken and plain rice for Bella and Gizmo, and they’ve always enjoyed it. Just no milk, unless you want to deal with a mess afterwards.”

Phew, thank Gaia, he could handle that, extra work be damned. Everything else seemed pretty self-explanatory, though he’d have to wait to get Rude’s thoughts on all of until they left the office. He shot the urban developer a very pointy, very Cheshire like grin, and laughed when he saw that glint of fear back in his eyes, “Alright man, all looks good to me, and I know Fluffy here’s gonna be real damn grateful for your help,” He nudged at Rude who just outright growled this time, startling Reeve into finally pulling his hand away.

“Oh uh, of course Reno I’m, I’m glad I was able to help, and if you have any other questions feel free to let me know” He paused, the nervous look back on his face, “But um, perhaps you should text first.”

“Cool cool, alright kitty-kitty, back in the bag,” Reno maneuvered his still open backpack onto his chest, and Rude quickly jumped back into the safety of the black nylon, and away from Reeve’s pet-happy fingers, “And we’ll see you whenever Tuesti, got a lot of shopping to do before the sun fucks off.”

“Ah, alright Reno I um, wish you all the best.” Reeve gave him a strained smile and weak wave, and the redhead shot back another crocked smile and a quick salute before striding out the room, and just like that all was calm and right in Reeve’s world again.

Reeve sighed, and collapsed behind his desk in relief.

Man, for someone so much shorter and younger then himself

Reno had mentioned a family friend but, ignoring the fact that he was fairly certain Reno or Rude ha few people in their lives that could be considered as such, the fact that Fluffy’s owners would just dump him onto someone else with no instructions or even what cat food he preferred was… odd.

Then it hit Reeve like a ton of bricks, and he let out a soft chuckle as he reached for the photo on his desk. Both Bella and Gizmo had been extremely pleasant but entirely unexpected additions to his life, with him finding Bella injured in an alleyway and Gizmo relentlessly following him all over Sector 7 after giving the loud ginger a piece of chicken from his lunch. He wondered if perhaps something similar had happened to one of the Turks, with the poorly kept secret of Rude’s animal-loving ways he jumped out as being the culprit. But Reno had already seemed pretty invested in the cat’s care, even going so far as to seek out Reeve of all people for help, and he seemed genuine in his desire to do things properly. 

Oh well, perhaps he could ask the quieter of the two the next time they had a moment alone together, maybe if he caught him in a good enough mood he’d be willing to talk for a bit. But for now, Reeve just placed his photograph back onto his desk, and went back to his work.

Until he realized the paper he’d been scribbling all of his cat-facts onto and given Reno was a part of the appraisal packet Reeve had been working on for President Shinra before the redhead had pounded on his door.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys had a fun time with this one, there's plenty more kitty-shenanigans to come!! Kudos and comments are always appreciated!!

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys can think of a better name for this one I'm BEGGING you to share, I gave up and went with this just because I was tired of staring at my computer screen lol. Hope you liked this one, kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated, and feel free to come hang out on Twitter with me @acerosedrop, and make sure to go follow @AmebThings to see more of their amazing art as well (18+ only for both of us though).


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